Romans 112

The Meaning of the Resurrection Message

Easter Sunday 2003

By Brian Kocourek

 

This morning the Easter Message will be preached from many a pulpit across the world, and there will be as many different approaches to this Doctrine as there are pulpits. I am afraid that most of them will bypass the Truth of the Resurrection and will present a social Gospel version that will not bring forth any change in those that hear it. For there has been 2,000 years of the preaching of the Cross and the Raising of the Man Christ Jesus, and yet the world continues to fall further and further into sin, until the Light of the Glorious Gospel is all but gone out, and the darkness, yes Gross darkness covers the earth.

 

And why is this? Does not the Word of God and its glorious revelation of the Risen Christ have power above the darkness? Yes, this is true, and it does, but it is written, many are called but few are chosen, and great is the way, but narrow is the pass, and few there be that find it.

 

I believe that the Easter Message in most pulpits today will not be preaching the resurrected Christ is alive today and is working in the midst of the people once again showing Himself to be alive forever more. But they will focus on to what is to them a story with no real present power, but one that is faded from being repeated for 2,000 and the hope of hat story has faded with the memory of it.

 

As William Branham always said, “Man is are always looking back, and always looking forward but he fails to see what God is doing in the age that he lives.”

 

Therefore this morning I would like to examine the resurrection of Christ and ask you what does it mean to you this morning. Is it just a story that took place according to this Book we call the Bible? Is it because you have read what some witnesses wrote 2,000 years ago? Then if so, how do you know today that He is still alive? Or is it more than just a story to you. Is it because your life has been affected by the personal presence of the resurrected Christ Himself, and you have personally become witness to the Resurrection power and presence in your own life? And thus you have become a witness yourself of His Personal Presence with us this morning. We are not talking about the psychological effect of a belief system, and your personal commitment to that belief system, because the Muslem’s show more commitment tot heir belief system and they have no hope of a resurrection. Its not even their language. They simply have a place where they believe they go called heaven where they will have 72 virgins and a very carnal future awaiting them.  That is not what I am talking about. The world is full of those psychological hopes.. But I am talking to you about an awareness that comes from personal contact and personal communion with the resurrected Christ, Himself.

 

For the question I am presenting to you this morning is this. What does the resurrection mean to you. Is your answer based on what it meant to others, or what it personally means to you. Is your answer based on the experience and witness of others or is it based on your own personal experience with the resurrected Christ. Now, many people talk about what Christ did do, but what are they saying concerning what He is here now doing?  They look forward to the Coming of the Lord but have failed to recognize the Appearing of the Lord that comes before the Coming.

 

And yet I am afraid that most people who claim to believe in the literal Second coming of Christ do not really look forward to that time with great anticipation. I have a friend that I would say is a very good Baptist, and he will admit that he is looking forward to that day, but just hopes it does not come too soon, because there are still things he wants to do before he comes. Now, I ask the question, is that then looking forward to that Great day, or is it dreading that day coming too soon? What does this world have to offer in its corrupted state that the new heaven and the new earth will not have even better? Do they even understand that we do not stay in some elevated place called heaven but that we come back to earth in a resurrected body that is glorified and young and full of life again?

 

And so the question then in their mind is, what really will the resurrection do for me that I can not do now? And so their minds have become clouded to the hope of our calling. Now, this is not just a 20th century question, for the Apostle Paul spoke of this question even in his day.

 

I CORINTHIANS 15:12   Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: (Now, I want to stop here and interject that what Paul is saying is this: The resurrection is not just about what took place when God raised up our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s about what that event has to do with you and me personally ourselves. If God raised up one Son, then He must raise up all His Sons. And so we read on...) 14  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. (and why is that? Because the whole hope of mankind is based in the fact that Jesus was a first fruit of the resurrection, and with it there is hope for ourselves. And not only Hope, but the Same God and Father who made a promise to His Son Jesus to raise Him from the dead has also made promise to us to raise us up as well, to live forever more.) 14  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith [is] vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. (Now, there is the answer to the question I posed to you. If Christ be not risen than we also have no hope. And then in the next verse the Apostle Paul answers my friends question. )19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20   But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of them that slept. (That means he was just the beginning, and there is hope because of God’s Own promise that we also will partake of the resurrection.)

 

21 For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also the resurrection of the dead. 22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (Now, you may not have caught what Paul was saying here, but let me read it again to you more slowly.) even so IN Christ shall all be made alive 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (Now, here is our hope. He said Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming, and the word coming here is the Greek word Parousia, which simply means presence, which does not speak of the act of arrival, or the second coming, but it actually refers to an event the precludes the 2nd coming. This speaks of the Appearing that gets us ready for the 2nd Coming. For Paul continues by saying, ) 24 Then cometh the end, (In other words, after this great Parousia takes place, then cometh the end...) when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he (God) must reign, till he (God) hath put all enemies under his (the son of God’s) feet. 26 The last enemy [that] shall be destroyed [is] death. 27 For he(God) hath put all things under his (the Son of God’s) feet. But when he (God) saith all things are put under him (The Son of God), it is manifest that he (God) is excepted, which did put all things under him (the Son of God). 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him (the son of God), then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him (God) that put all things under him (The Son of God), that God may be all in all.

 

Therefore my question to you remains this. What does the resurrection mean personally to you? It means that you also have a promise from God that you will be raised from the dead evena as God fulfilled the raising of His First born Son from the dead.

 

Now, then that would lead us to another question. And that is this. If God is to raise us up frm the dead, then in what form will we be raised up from the dead? And I believe it is because men do not understand this question is why they do not really long for the resurrection and catching away. It is because they are afraid of what they might get for a body. And they are not sure that they will like that body. Most people have some silly notion that heaven is a place where you just float around on a cloud and are kind of like a spirit or a little cloud like mist or spirit or come notion as that. But God made the earth for man and intends for us to dwell on the earth thorough out an eternity future. And to answer this question as to how we come back the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

 

I CORINTHIANS 15:35    But some [man] will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? (You see, there is that same question.)36 [Thou] fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: (Now, he is talking about sowing a reaping here and he is talking about the body) 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. (Therefore you do not have to worry about coming back as a bird of some other animal like the Hindu people do. You go down as a man you come back as a man.) 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

 

Paul is telling us here that we have a natural Body and a spirit body. When the seed goes into the ground, it has to lie there and rot in order for the life that is in it to be released from its natural body or husk or shell. But once that spirit body is released from its dried up husk, the life begins to bring forth another body in the same image of the one that went into the earthly grave, only one that is not all dried out and old, but one that is new and full of life.

 

46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. 48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (Now, what Paul is telling us here is that just as we have born the image of earthly carnage men sold under sin because of the fall in the garden, so too shall we receive a body that is incorruptible, which is not born by a sexual desire but from the Spoken Word Promise of God.) 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 ¶  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (Now, If we were to come up in a body that is old and worn out, what kind of a life would that be to live in that condition for an eternity? And He is telling us the body that goes into the grave will come back but it will be changed. For if we came back with another body, that would not resurrection, that would be replacement. But we will come back with our own body that went into the ground, but it will be a changed body, incorruptible, and immortal, which means it will be of such a nature that it will never grow old again, nor weaken from any outide influence upon it.)

 

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory? 56 The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law. 57 But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58   Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

 

Now, concerning the body that we come back with. We all know that when Jesus was raised from the dead the brethren did not recognize Him. And why is that?  Because when Jesus died he was only about 33 years old, but because of the rigor and strain of the ministry he appeared to be around 50 years old.  JOHN 8:57Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

In the Book of John, we have a witness who had first hand experience of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And in his telling us of the happenings surrounding the resurrection from the dead, we find that no one recognized Him from his looks but it was the things he did and said that they were able to recognize him from.

 

JOHN 20:1   The first [day] of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5 And he stooping down, [and looking in], saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. 11   But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, [and looked] into the sepulchre, 12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13  And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.(Now, here lays two clues as to the image that Jesus was showing here. Number one he appeared to be young like a gardener would be. And two he appeared to be strong and full of health in order to be able to carry away the body.) 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. 19 ¶  Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

 

Several time more Jesus appeared to them and they did not recognize him. He appeared to the brethren while they were fishing, and broke bread with them. He appeared to them on their road to Emmaus, and in all cases they did not recognize him until he did something or said something that identified who he was.

 

Let’s look now for another example of this in the old Testament, for if we believe that God changes not and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Then what he did back then, He is obligated to do the same today.

JOEL 1:1   The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation. 4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

 

JOEL 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26    And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27 And ye shall know that I [am] in the midst of Israel, and [that] I [am] the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

 

Resurrection is not about receiving another body, but the same body restored back to the fullness of life.

 

GENESIS 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall [a child] be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, [and] with his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

 

GENESIS 18:10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; (now this time of life comes from a Hebrew words. Eth which means a period of time, and it comes from the root word, ad that speaks of a time in the past. But that will continue into the future. The Word for Life here is the Hebrew word chay or chayah which means: to quicken, revive, refresh, to restore to life and it refers to being restored to life, full health, vitality and energy, which means to be changed back from an old woman to a young one again, and from an old man who had dried up to a young one again.) and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard [it] in the tent door, which [was] behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah [were] old [and] well stricken in age; [and] it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

 

Not only did God restore them back to their youthful bodies, but he also gave Sarah ability to receive seed and bring forth from her womb, life as well. So we are looking at restoration as not only bringing you back to the age of vitality, and energy, but it also speaks of restoring everything, including your health. And then in chapter 20 we find Abraham and Sarah journeying into the kingdom of Gerar and the King there looked upon her beauty and wanted her for his own wife. Now, this woman had said she was old and well worn out, and yet now she is so attractive that the young King wants her for his own?

 

GENESIS 20:1   And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3   But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou [art but] a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she [is] a man's wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6  And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he [is] a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 8    Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God [is] not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. 12 And yet indeed [she is] my sister; she [is] the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13    And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14 ¶  And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land [is] before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand [pieces] of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife. 21:1 ¶  And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

 

Why do you think the 1st Resurrection took place in the Spring time? Because God is the God of the Resurrection, and all of creation testifies to the resurrecting power of our God and Father. Spring is when the grass comes up, and the trees come up and the flowers come up and all life comes back from the shallow grave of the winters snow. Up, and living, up and living, up and living pops up every seed that went into the ground and was buried there for a season.  Brother, botany doesn’t only mean flowers and things, it means resurrection too. Just as the springtime, when the Easter flowers are blooming, everything's so pretty, a very type of nature; resurrection has to come in the spring. That's the reason the resurrection is in springtime. Resurrection of everything, and surely the King of nature resurrected, the Creator of nature, resurrected with the rest of the resurrection of nature. And if God changes not, then the resurrection we shall experience in this hour must also come in the spring. Now, I am not limiting what God can do, but God has shown Himself to be the same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore, why would he change what He has already established throughout all of creation.

 

And the resurrection doesn’t bring you back in an old worn-out body? It brings you back at your best. What a cruel god that would bring you back in this same old worn out body. Could you imagine nature bringing forth broken old trees with the bark peeling off to begin with, and the leaves drying up to begin with, and the fruit withering before it has a chance to come forth? That wouldn’t be a spring time? That would be a time of horror. But resurrection is to bring up from the dead, into a condition that is new and youthful and full of expectation, and vitality and energy, and just brimming full of life.

 

PSALMS 104:29  Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. 30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. 31    The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.

 

PSALMS 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

 

ISAIAH 40:31 31    But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. 41:1   Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew [their] strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.

 

LAMENTATIONS 5:21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. That speaks of bringing us back to the times when we were young again.

 

Our promise is a change of the body from old to youth again like Abraham and Sarah and Jesus Himself who appeared to be old and yet when He rose from the grave they did not recognize Him for he appeared as a young man to them at the grave.

 

The outer man is perishing but the inner man is renewed daily.

 

He was risen from the dead for our justification. You say, I thought He died for our justification. NO! he died that your sins might be covered under his Precious blood, and that your sinful life might be atoned for. But He rose that you might have justification because to be justified means as though you never did do it, and when He rose again for our justification it brought back His Spirit upon the believer and quickened us by the same spirit that was in Him, and has made us new creatures in Christ Jesus.

 

MATTHEW 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

 

MATTHEW 27:50     Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

 

PSALMS 103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good [things; so that] thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

 

The Resurrection is a  living hope I PETER 1:3  Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope (Wuest: a Hope that has been made alive) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

 

ACTS 1:1   The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

 

ROMANS 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4    Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

 

I JOHN 3:1    Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

 

II CORINTHIANS 3:12   Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13    And not as Moses, [which] put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ. 15    But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty. 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

I CORINTHIANS 13:8    9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10    But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12    For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

 

COLOSSIANS 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3    For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4  When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

 

EPHESIANS 2:1    And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:   3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 

COLOSSIANS 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13    And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [days]: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ.

 

JOHN 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

 

ACTS 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

 

II CORINTHIANS 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward [man] is renewed day by day.

 

EPHESIANS 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

 

COLOSSIANS 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10    And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

 

ROMANS 12:1   I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 

TITUS 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6    Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

Now the question is no longer whether there be a resurrection. That was already proved when God raised up His Son. But the real question now, for each of us here this morning is what resurrection awaits us?

 

JOHN 5:26  For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

 

What does Easter mean to you this morning? That God keeps His Promises? Or is it still just a social tradition to you. What did Resurrection mean to Jesus, the Son of God? It meant everything to Him. It meant that God would be there to raise Him up after He went to the cross. It meant that God would not let one Word of His fall short, but will bring to pass whatsoever He has promised.

 

Paul said to the men of Athens ACTS 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by [that] man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all [men], in that he hath raised him from the dead. 32 ¶  And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

 

What will you do this morning? What will your decision be this morning? Will you accept the promise of Eternal Life and a change of the body? Or will you continue on in your traditions.

 

Let’s  just bow our heads and our hearts in word of prayer...